May 25, 2018 — BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Recreational red snapper seasons open Friday in state and federal waters off Louisiana and Mississippi. Openings are scheduled June 1 off Texas and Alabama and June 11 off of Florida‘s west coast for anglers after the popular sport and table fish.
The states announced those dates in April, after the federal government authorized two-year experimental permits to let states along the Gulf of Mexico manage recreational seasons for red snapper.
May 25, 2018 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:
South Atlantic Fishery Management Council Meeting
June 10-15, 2018 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Unless otherwise indicated, members of the public are invited to attend all meetings.
Meeting materials, including agendas, overviews, presentations, and documents are now available via the Council’s website.
Meeting Location:
Bahia Mar Doubletree by Hilton
801 Seabreeze Boulevard
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Phone: 855/610-8733
May 24, 2018 — The idea that fish suffer runs counter to almost everything Americans have been taught about creatures of the sea. That their brains are not complex enough to experience pain. That their behaviors when stressed — such as wriggling violently on a hook — are just unconscious reactions, disconnected from the suffering of sentient beings. That they’re, more or less, unfeeling little meat sticks that don’t deserve animal welfare protections.
The accumulated research on fish pain has recently hit the public with the impact of a blunt object. In January, Hakai magazine published a comprehensive feature under the headline, “Fish Feel Pain. Now What?,” which Smithsonian magazine republished under the more provocative title, “It’s Official: Fish Feel Pain.” This month, the storytelling studio Topic ran a deeply reported story “How to Kill Fish,” in which author Cat Ferguson argues that the Japanese technique called ike jime is not only more humane than other forms of slaughter but also produces superior-tasting fish.
So why is the public only now interested in a subject that researchers have been covering for two decades? Is it another manifestation of a food culture that demands only the finest ingredients? Or maybe Americans — or some at least — are now ready to face the consequences of a world that acknowledges fish pain? What would it mean for the commercial fishing industry? For regulators? For recreational anglers?
For starters, the U.S. government might have to amend the Animal Welfare Act and the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, both of which exclude fish. Weekend anglers might have to kill their fish first before throwing them in a cooler. Fish farms might have to adopt new methods of slaughter. Commercial trawlers, the boats that roam the world’s oceans, might have to upgrade their equipment to kill fish humanely.
In other words, there would be a lot of resistance to changing the way fish is caught, transported and killed. It might be possible for fish farms and weekend anglers to change their ways, says David Krebs, founder of Ariel Seafoods in Destin, Fla., but it would be impossible for commercial boats, which can net a million or more fish at one time.
“You have a [catch] come on board with two million creatures, and you’re going to take each one of them and say, ‘Let’s change how you’re dying.’ It’s impossible,” Krebs says. “You’re not changing the way that the Russians are trawling or the way that the Japanese are trawling.”
Read the full story at the Washington Post
May 17, 2018 — The following was released by the Southeastern Fisheries Association:
The American Sportfishing Association and other anti-commercial fishing groups told Congress that anglers only get 3% of the fish. They lie!
From the Virginia/North Carolina border through the Florida Keys, see how many pounds of fish are allotted for the non-fishermen?
SEE HOW MANY POUNDS OF FISH ARE ALLOTTED FOR THE SPORT-FISHERMEN?
Is it legal to take so much fish away from non-fishing citizens?
National marine manufacturers, foreign outboard motor, gear, electronic companies and anglers clubs are pushing to privatize federal fish resources exclusively for sport fishing.
The following data is derived from NOAA’s listing of the Allowable Catch Levels (ACLs) for each of the following species. View the source material in its entirety here.
WHO GETS THE FISH NOW?
| FISH Species | #’s Non-fishing Consumers (Commercial) | Anglers |
| Atlantic Spade Fish | 150,552 | 661,926 |
| Bar Jack | 13,228 | 49,021 |
| Black Grouper | 96,884 | 165,750 |
| Blueline Tile | 87,251 | 87,277 |
| Cobia NY to GA | 50,000 | 620,000 |
| Cobia East FL(Gulf) | 70,000 | 860,000 |
| Deepwater Complex | 131,628 | 38,628 |
| Dolphin | 1,534,485 | 13,810,361 |
| Gag grouper | 335,188 | 348,194 |
| Golden Tile | 313,310 | 2,187 (Number of Fish) |
| Grey Trigger | 312,324 | 404,675 |
| Grunts | 217,903 | 618,122 |
| Hog Fish NC-GA | 23,456 | 988 (Number of fish) |
| Hog Fish FLK-EFL | 4,524 | 18,617 (Number of fish) |
| Jacks | 189,422 | 267,799 |
| Mutton | 104,231 | 768,857 |
| Porgies | 36,348 | 106,914 |
| Red Grouper | 343,200 | 436,800 |
| Red Snapper | 0 | 0 |
| Scamp | 219,375 | 1,169,308 |
| Shallow Grouper | 55,542 | 48,648 |
| Snapper (Exclud. R Snapper) | 344,575 | 1,169,308 |
| Snowy Grouper | 144,315 | 4,983 (Number of Fish) |
| Vermillion Snapper | 862,290 | 406,080 |
| Wahoo | 70,542 | 1,724,418 |
| Wreckfish | 385,985 | 20,315 |
| Black Seabass | 755,724 | 1,001,177 |
| Greater Amberjack | 769,388 | 1,167,837 |
| King Mackerel | 5,900,000 | 10,900,000 |
| Spanish Mackerel | 3,330,000 | 2,727,000 |
| Yellow Tail Snaper | 1,596,510 | 1,440,990 |
| Total Allocations | 17,912,450 | 40,000,785 |
May 16, 2018 — Organizers of an upcoming lionfish roundup hope to collect thousands of the invasive and venomous predators, which are now being found in rivers and estuaries outside of the Gulf of Mexico.
Local environmental groups, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and divers from throughout the Panhandle region will gather at the Flora-Bama Ole River Grill and Yacht Club in Perdido Key on Friday and Saturday for the annual Lionfish Removal Festival and Tournament.
Event organizer Brian Asher said the annual lionfish roundup is the largest such event anywhere in the world. Asher said the goal of the festival is to harvest more than 15,000 lionfish from local waters during the two-day event.
Read the full story at the Tallahassee Democrat
May 9, 2018 — BREWER, Maine — Interstate fishing managers are considering a host of changes to the way they regulate commercial eel harvesting, and public hearings about the subject are getting started in New York.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is holding the hearings in May and June from Florida to Maine. The first hearing is on Wednesday in New Paltz, New York. The commission is considering making changes to the eel quota system.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Haven Register
May 8, 2018 — Aquatic preserves created to protect sea life from Australia to the ocean off Mayport stand to lose huge numbers of fish as oceans warm in coming decades, researchers reported Monday.
The report in the journal Nature Climate Change concludes many of more than 8,000 places labeled as marine protected areas will be overtaken by effects of climate change without major reductions in carbon-dioxide releases worldwide.
“There has been a lot of talk about establishing marine reserves to buy time while we figure out how to confront climate change,” said Rich Aronson, a researcher at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne who co-authored the report with seven other scientists. “We’re out of time and the fact is we already know what to do: We have to control greenhouse gas emissions.”
Marine protected areas have grown mostly unnoticed over a generation, spreading to include big chunks of Florida’s coastline. The Oculina Bank, for example, a stretch of deep coral reefs near Vero Beach, was just a “habitat area of particular concern” when the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council attached a label to it in 1984. Rules against anchoring and fishing for snapper and grouper were added in the 1990s, then in 2000 the size more than tripled and new restrictions were added.
Read the full story at the Florida Times-Union
May 4, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — U.S. Senators Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, recently introduced the Sustainable Shark Fisheries and Trade Act (S. 2764), a similar bill introduced in the House — H.R. 5248 — by Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Fla.
A press release from Rubio’s office said the bicameral legislation recognizes the sustainable and economically-valuable fishing practices of U.S. shark fishermen and promotes U.S. standards for shark conservation and humane harvest.
Sharks play an important role in maintaining the health of the ocean ecosystems for which Florida is known, Rubio noted in the statement.
“Sharks are already sustainably and humanely harvested in federal waters per U.S. law, providing sustained economic benefits to coastal communities through fishing, trade, and tourism. This bill will help promote those same standards for sustainable and humane shark harvesting among our global trade partners as well,” Rubio said in the release. “This bill protects international shark populations as well as the fishermen in Florida and throughout the U.S. who continue to fish by the rules.”
Both the senate and house bills are a contrast to other proposed legislation, such as H.R. 1456, directed at the sales of shark fins. Those bills, critics say, will do nothing to eliminate the sales of shark fins globally, punish the domestic seafood industry and could unintentionally create a market for the practice of shark finning by foreign fishermen.
“While the practice of shark finning is already banned in U.S. waters, we do have a small population of fishermen who legally harvest whole sharks for their meat, oil, and other products,” Murkowski said in the statement. “This legislation sets a strong policy example for global nations that wish to prevent shark finning in their waters, while respecting the cultures of communities that rely on subsistence, protecting the rights of American fisherman that operate in the legal shark fisheries, and supporting the efforts of shark conservationists.
“Together, we can find solutions to protect our fisheries, our communities, and our marine ecosystems, worldwide.”
According to Rubio’s office, the Sustainable Shark Fisheries and Trade Act would:
“Fishing is a long-standing profession and treasured American pastime,” Webster stated in the release. “We must pursue conservation, while balancing the needs of the industry and recreation. This bill recognizes the sacrifices American fishermen have made to rebuild and sustain our shark populations. It encourages other nations wishing to export shark products to the United States to adhere to the same high standards for conservation and management.”
Webster’s proposed legislation has 15 cosponsors. It passed the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans in April. It also has the support of several groups that have opposed H.R. 1456 and related bills. The Mote Marine Laboratory, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), the Palm Beach Zoo, SeaWorld, Zoo Miami Foundation, the Florida Aquarium, the Southeastern Fisheries Association, Directed Sustainable Fisheries, Louisiana Shrimpers and Garden State Seafood all support Webster’s bill, according to Sunshine State News.
This story originally appeared on Seafood News, it is republished here with permission.
May 1, 2018 — At the end of last week, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, announced they would champion in the Senate U.S. Rep. Dan Webster’s, R-Fla., proposal for the U.S. Commerce Department to increase regulation on the international shark trade.
Last month, Webster, who is the vice chairman on the U.S. House Water Power and Oceans Subcommittee, unveiled the “Sustainable Shark and Fisheries Trade Act” which modifies the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act. The proposal has support from both sides of the aisle with three members of the Florida delegation–Republican U.S. Reps. Gus Bilirakis and Bill Posey and Democrat U.S. Rep. Darren Soto–as original cosponsors of the proposal. Since then, four Florida Republicans–U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Neal Dunn, Tom Rooney and Ted Yoho–have thrown their support to the bill as cosponsors.
Rubio announced that he would sponsor the bill in the Senate.
Read the full story at the Sunshine State News
April 27, 2018 — WASHINGTON — The following was released by the Office of Senator Marco Rubio:
U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced the Sustainable Shark Fisheries and Trade Act (S. 2764), bicameral legislation that recognizes the sustainable and economically-valuable fishing practices of U.S. shark fishermen and promotes U.S. standards for shark conservation and humane harvest. U.S. Representative Daniel Webster (R-FL) has introduced similar legislation (H.R. 5248) in the House.
“Sharks play an important role in maintaining the health of the ocean ecosystems for which Florida is known for,” said Senator Rubio. “Sharks are already sustainably and humanely harvested in federal waters per U.S. law, providing sustained economic benefits to coastal communities through fishing, trade, and tourism. This bill will help promote those same standards for sustainable and humane shark harvesting among our global trade partners as well. This bill protects international shark populations as well as the fishermen in Florida and throughout the U.S. who continue to fish by the rules.”
“While the practice of shark finning is already banned in U.S. waters, we do have a small population of fishermen who legally harvest whole sharks for their meat, oil, and other products,” said Senator Murkowski. “This legislation sets a strong policy example for global nations that wish to prevent shark finning in their waters, while respecting the cultures of communities that rely on subsistence, protecting the rights of American fisherman that operate in the legal shark fisheries, and supporting the efforts of shark conservationists. Together, we can find solutions to protect our fisheries, our communities, and our marine ecosystems, worldwide.”
“Fishing is a long-standing profession and treasured American pastime,” said Representative Webster. “We must pursue conservation, while balancing the needs of the industry and recreation. This bill recognizes the sacrifices American fishermen have made to rebuild and sustain our shark populations. It encourages other nations wishing to export shark products to the United States to adhere to the same high standards for conservation and management.”
Specifically the Sustainable Shark Fisheries and Trade Act would:
View the release in its entirety here.